Smuggler Archive
Thread: The game that SHOULD have been
I LOVE STARWARS
Click
here to see some constructive ideas
That's the point of this blog. I love it. It was a great concept. They were
great movies (still ARE!). There were GREAT characters! The Stories. The Music.
The Special Effects. The Bounty Hunters. The Smugglers. The outfits.
When I saw the game Star Wars Galaxies "An Empire Divided" at the
store, I almost crapped my pants. Now, mind you, I'm 29 years old. I'm married.
I have a job that takes up most of my time. I don't just jump into playing a
time consuming game unless I'm completely in love with the concept.
The concept, live your own Star Wars adventures. Explore planets never before
explored in other games. Meet real Star Wars Characters. See the Star Wars
Universe up close. WOW! A true Star Wars nerd's dream! It takes place AFTER
Episode IV: A New Hope, after Obi Wan Kenobi dies, and the first Deathstar blew
up.
Well, like most true Star Wars geeks, I was caught up into it. $15 a month?
Heck, if it lives up to it's billing, I'd pay $100. I loved the game at first.
The idea that I was a small unknown character, ready to break out into one of
many professions, make enough money to buy a shuttle ticket to Endor, or Naboo...
It was a dream! There were helpers, experience enthusiasts there to just show
you the ropes.
It wasn't much time after that, when I saw my first Jedi. Woah... He had a robe,
just like Obi Wan. He was on his knees, almost in a meditative state. I dare not
approach him. I'm sure he's like a rock star. The advertisements told me when I
bought this game that it's extremely difficult to become a Jedi. In fact, they
were quite "rare". This made sense, seeing the general setting of the
game (post episode IV).
I chose a path that would bring me in line with one of my favorite characters,
Han Solo. I decided to be a Smuggler. One day I would Master the Pilot
Profession, get a Master Smuggler title and build trust in different characters.
Well, friends, I was so off.
Here's what I found after 2 short months of playing:
1. Jedi
are far from rare. They are the elite group that are given far more
outstanding combat powers than the other players. To get this profession, you
must devote on average 3 (real life) hours a day to doing nothing but mindless
destroying of creatures for about 3 months. Once this is done, you are a 'Padawan'
and far from being competetive.
This places a very specific audience in the elite spot. Now mind you, I'm a Star
Wars fanatic, but even I have neither the time nor the patience to gain such a
title. I didn't even personally want to BE a Jedi, until I saw the other
benefits.
First off, you get a second character slot, which means you can have two
characters in the same 'galaxy', enabling you to have a complementary profession
to your elite Jedi.
Second, the Jedi profession makes all other combat professions void, due to
their elite abilities. This game tempts you to want to find with either the
Imperials or the Rebellion, but gives you no chance to defend yourself from a
Jedi.
Third, the Jedi profession grants you permission to enter 'hidden' spots in the
game that other professions aren't able to enter, and the ability to survive and
explore places that others wouldn't dare come close to.
Fourth, and probably most important, the jedi group seems to have much
attention from the Development group of Sony Online Entertainment. There are
several patches and enhancements for the Jedi players to enjoy and try out.
Other professions seem to get left in the lurch (See bullet point #2).
The bottom line is, the Jedi profession is the only way to get enjoyment out of
this game, and for those who are Star Wars Purists (like myself), this just
shouldn't be.
2. Many Professions in this game are broken, and those bugs seem to get ignored
by the development team.
The Smuggler profession, by itself has waited two years for their profession to
get some content to help them perform their job. As many players say, "we
just want to smuggle". There is no smuggling ability STILL in this game.
There have been long time complaints from the Droid Engineer community that
their profession has been left with many issues. This profession would seem lend
itself to much depth an engineering, yet there are very few options.
These are just a few, but talk to anybody in professions other than Jedi or
Bounty Hunter, and you will find an abundance of complaints.
Those are just two main points, and I hope this blog will lend to expanding into
a though provoking discussion, that hopefully will help Sonly Online
Entertainment why so many are cancelling their subscriptions.
Why don't you just hit the Cancel Button?
You'll get that retort many times from other players when voicing your
disappointment with the game. It's a callous response, in my opinion. I have
cancelled my subscription, but I will still devote some time and energy into
helping to make it a game that will bring me back.
Also, hitting the cancel button hits the cancel button to the ONLY fully online
Star Wars game, a difficult thing for a Star Wars nerd to swallow.
My complaint is that this game has (or had) SO much potential but it totally
missed the mark. I wanted to explore Star Wars, but I ended up being on the
wrong end of one too many lightsabers, held probably by someone who could care
less about the Star Wars universe and more about ruining my Star Wars
experience. This is not what Mr. Lucas had in mind. I guarantee it.
Please send me your thoughts. I'll continue to post ideas, screenshots and other
goodies on my blog listed below to promote some change for the better in this
game.
Message Edited by Makris on 07-29-2005 01:57 PM
